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Abstract

Physicians play a crucial role in helping patients make life or death decisions. However, all healthcare professionals have personal beliefs and biases that influence these decisions. This paper explores how physicians are able to uphold the Hippocratic ideal of doing what is in the best interest of the patient while taking into account their personal beliefs and biases. The paper begins by analyzing existing schools of thought around how to do what is best for the patient. While there are many different views, this paper looks at the main three: the bioethical movement, the paternalistic approach to medicine, and the religiously-inspired ideals of medicine. Upon exploring these approaches, the paper suggests that physicians adopt the subjective Health Belief Model (HBM) when helping patients make life-altering decisions. The paper applies the model to in vitro genetic testing to show the model’s positive impact on the physician-patient relationship. The paper concludes by addressing other uses for the HBM and limitations of the model.

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